Travellers' Tales
by Elennare
Summary: As they sail away from Secret Water, the Swallows and Amazons tell Commander and Mrs Walker some of their adventures.


Written for mrsredboots for Yuletide 2014. Thanks to bluealoe for betaing! And thanks also to Andrew and Solo2863 for spotting my accidental remodelling of the Goblin - the tiller has been returned aft where it belongs :)

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><p>Once the Secret Archipelago had faded into the distance, Nancy turned to John, and asked for the drawing-board which held the precious map.<p>

"We can't put them in right now, I suppose," she said, "but I want to see how the North East Passage will fit."

"And the North West," Roger said quickly. "Can't we sketch them in?"

"No use trying to draw on a moving ship," Father put in from his post at the tiller, much to Titty's relief - eager though she was to have the map completed, she knew nothing good would come of rushing it. Besides, the passages had been mapped, which was the most important thing. There would be time tonight to add them and ink them in properly.

The morning's explorers crowded round as John carefully unwrapped the map. Nancy and Titty produced the sketches that proved Peewit and Blackberry were islands at high tide, and held them up for comparison. As with all their rough maps, they were a tangle of compass bearings and scribbled lines - Nancy, catching sight of Titty's dismayed look when she saw her map, quickly said that she'd explain it to her - but the main passages were clear enough. It was a solemn moment, as it truly sank in that, against all odds and on the brink of failure, they had actually succeeded in mapping Secret Water.

"It's going to be jolly good when it's finished," Roger said.

"It's jolly good now," Nancy retorted.

"I'm wrapping it up again," John said, determined not to have anything happen to the map if it could possibly be avoided. "Shall I put the others in with it?"

"Give me a few minutes to make mine clearer," Nancy answered, rummaging in her pockets for pencil and indiarubber.

"Have some bread and marmalade first," Susan called, reappearing with a piled plate from the little cabin where she and Mrs Walker had vanished almost as soon as they were well under way. Her mother put her head around the door and called Peggy, who was nearest, to help pass out mugs of tea.

Everyone fell to with a will; their breakfast of boiled eggs had not been nearly enough to fill their stomachs. Even Titty, who had eaten bananas and chocolate on the high seas, was hungry - and Roger, of course, could always eat more.

"I thought you'd be hungry since you didn't really have breakfast," Susan said.

"There wasn't time before leaving," Nancy answered, then took a huge bite of her bread.

"Or to take down the tent - we're frightfully sorry about that, by the way," Peggy said, with an apologetic look at John and Susan. "There simply wasn't time, and we thought you might wake up while we were doing it. We thought we'd be back sooner, too."

"We're sorry too," Titty added. "I was afraid you'd try to stop us if you heard us moving around."

"That's all right," John said, grinning. "The map's done, and everything was packed and ready when Daddy arrived."

"You two must have been quiet as mice," Nancy said to Titty and Roger, after washing down her bread with a gulp of tea. "I never heard a thing! I only knew someone had gone because Wizard wasn't there - "

"And she was furious that someone had got up before us," Peggy interjected, laughing.

Nancy scowled at her. "Just you wait, you mudfish." Turning back to the pair, she went on, "I didn't know if you'd gone mapping, though. I thought you might just have gone to say goodbye to the Mastodon. Jolly good Eeling, anyway!"

"You and Peggy must have been quiet too, none of us heard a thing," John said. "We thought you were still asleep - in fact Bridget was going to squeeze a sponge on you."

"Great Congers, I'd have liked to see you try!" Nancy exclaimed, turning a ferocious glare on the Ship's Baby. Bridget, who could see Nancy's eyes twinkling, just giggled - though she edged closer to Mrs Walker anyway, to be on the safe side.

"I'm surprised you weren't part of the mapping this morning," Mother said to John.

"Haven't you been paying attention, Mary? All these other wretches slipped out to map at the crack of dawn without waking him," Father replied before John could say anything.

"Oh, we had to," Nancy said quickly. "We were supposed to do the North East passage yesterday, you see, but we didn't have time with getting everything ready for the corroboree."

"Ah, yes, the famous corroboree. Bridget's been telling me all about it," Mrs Walker said with a laugh. "And you two?"

This last question was aimed at Titty and Roger, and Titty hurried to answer it before anyone else could.

"It was our fault John couldn't do the North West yesterday, we got back late from the town. So we had to do it."

She looked around quickly at the others, hoping no-one would say anything about why they had been late. She knew Mother would have to hear about their getting caught by the Red Sea, but she wanted to tell her privately. She didn't think anyone would say anything… but she'd reckoned without Bridget. Titty and Roger had been so careful not to scare her, she had never realised the real danger they'd been in; it had been simply another adventure for her., and she piped up.

"We got caught by the tide in the Red Sea!"

Mother started, and Titty winced. She'd have to explain now.

"John and Susan sent us ahead, but we stopped to let Sinbad out for a run and some milk, and we found Sinbad's Creek and mapped it, and when we got to the Wade it was too late to cross really. But I didn't know so we tried, and we got stuck at the highest part," she said miserably. "It was my fault."

"No it wasn't," Roger argued. "Sinbad wanted a run, and Bridgie wanted buns… and so did I," he added honestly.

Titty gave him a grateful look. "The Mastodon saw our distress signal and rescued us," she continued, and Roger cut across her.

"We had a plan if no-one saw us. Bridget was going to float and Titty was going to get her to the shore while I took Sinbad."

"Well, you've certainly had adventures," Mother said, with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I was a duffer to try and cross really," Titty said.

"A bit, perhaps," Daddy answered. "But you had a plan, and that's what matters. It's not so much getting yourselves into trouble as getting yourselves out of it that counts. Now, John, will you take the tiller for a bit? I want a word with Mother."

The group broke up as John hurried aft to take the tiller, leaving Daddy free to take Mother's arm and walk to the other end of the deck with her, talking quietly. Susan vanished below with the now-empty plate, followed by Bridget carrying Sinbad. Peggy stayed outside, handing down the mugs; the cabin was too crowded with camping things for many people to move easily.

Taking the map and pencil from her pocket, Nancy said, "I'd better fix this before I forget. Come over here, AB, and I'll explain it as I go."

Suiting actions to words, she sat down on a thwart and began darkening some lines and erasing others. Titty leaned over her, and did her best to fix Nancy's explanation in her mind. Roger looked over as well. Once the worst of the wrong lines were gone, it wasn't too difficult to read, and Titty thought she'd be able to put it in the map all right.

Mapping wasn't the only thing on her mind, though, and Nancy seemed to guess it. "Buck up," she instructed as she finished her explanation. "Nothing really went wrong."

"I know, but it could have… and it would have been my fault. Things always seem to go wrong when I'm in charge, like Roger twisting his ankle the year we climbed Kanchenjunga, or getting trapped in the Old Level…"

"You weren't in charge then, not really," Roger pointed out. "You only went in to bring the Ds and me out, and we'd only gone in because we saw Squashy Hat - I mean Timothy - coming out."

"And good things happen when you're in charge too," Nancy said forcefully. "Who captured Amazon? Who discovered Swallowdale? Who was in charge when you saved the camp from burning? Shiver my timbers! Things don't always go wrong. Yes, you were galoots to get caught by the tide, but everyone is sometimes. Peggy!" she called to her sister, who was sitting on the cabin steps and chatting to Susan. "Remember the accidents we had when we first learnt to use our bows and arrows?"

"Do you mean the time you smashed a window? Or the time you missed me by about half an inch and scared Mother half to death?" Peggy asked, grinning.

Nancy chuckled. "Both will do! I was an utter galoot both times. Or sailing in the dark when we had our war… And John - " She broke off for a second. She had been intending to point out how John had been night sailing too, and wrecked Swallow the next year, but it wasn't the thing to criticise her fellow captain. Also, the Swallows were fiercely loyal. So she quickly amended it to a vague "- has been a duffer sometimes too, I'm sure. Everyone is! So don't blame yourself. Nothing happened, and you've got a wonderful adventure to tell! Now, here's the map so you can put it in."

Titty took the paper, which was distinctly crumpled by now, with a grateful smile. "Thank you," she said, meaning more than just the map. "I'll finish the inking tonight."

"You'll have to bring the finished map to the Lake next year, so we can see it," Peggy called.

"Oh, I think you'll see it sooner than that," Mrs Walker told her, smiling, as she and Commander Walker had rejoined them. Titty sighed with relief to see that the worried frown had left her face. "Your Mother said you'll be staying in London with your Aunt Helen for a few days, and you'll be coming to spend the day with us."

"Three cheers!" Nancy yelled, always irrepressible, and everyone joined in with a will.

Once the cheering was over, Commander Walker called Nancy to take her turn at the tiller. She ran aft eagerly, and was soon steering, with a look of fierce determination to be just as good as John, if not better. John himself sat nearby with the telescope, ready to call out the buoys that marked their way.

Meanwhile, Mrs Walker called the rest to her. "I've heard some things from Bridget," she said, "but I'm sure you've had lots of adventures she hasn't had time to tell me yet. So tell the poor Stay-At-Homes some more of your travellers' tales!"

They gathered round, all talking at once, till Daddy told them all to be quiet and asked Titty to speak first. She began to tell of how they met the Mastodon - with frequent interruptions from the rest - and the red-sailed Goblin sailed on for home, Wizard and Firefly bobbing merrily behind in her wake.


End file.
